COUNCILLORS across Sefton will be relieved that local elections are not around the corner.

COUNCILLORS across Sefton will be relieved that local elections are not around the corner.

If polling day was looming, it would be ‘squeaky bum time’ for many as voters ask themselves whether they should rubbish or recycle their elected members.

It is not surprising that the imposition on residents of wheelie bins and alternating collections has been brought in right after the local elections have taken place, and not before. The most controversial council scheme for years has led to huge public debate – which sadly is taking place after the green and grey bins have been wheeled onto people’s driveways and not before.

Those behind the scheme insist that homeowners MUST stop sending so much waste to landfill, and the Government is waiting with the feared big stick of council tax increases for those whose rubbish levels exceeds tipping point.

There is almost unanimous backing for the green credentials behind the scheme.

But are the methods right?

The news forums on the Visiter website and the letters that have been arriving at our offices on Tulketh Street are voluminous.

Some people question whether the new system is merely a cutback in services, and are cynical that wheelie bins are arriving conveniently just as collections drop from weekly to fortnightly.

Others – such as those is Ainsdale who have already received the bins – say some families are struggling to cope with the scheme, and are appalled by the potential hygiene dangers.

Southport MP John Pugh says schemes must not be imposed nationally but agreed locally, while Southport Conservatives are calling for an urgent review of the scheme.

Local people are the ones who have to live with the system so they must have the right, once the scheme is up and running, to have their say over how it is implemented in future.

If they are denied, then May 2008 could indeed be a very nervous time for our town’s politicians....